Innocent charges? Or Too Much For Too Little?

You’ve been there before; you spend the obligatory 10 minutes trawling through the event ticket service website selecting your dates, seats, quantity. You get to the dreaded payment area knowing that the amount quoted on the first page is guaranteed to increase with the influx of tax, admin fees, ticket charges etc etc!

Most people just click accept and keep it moving knowing that if they want these tickets there is nothing they can do about it. Most people don’t even think about where the money goes and if they are being charged a fair amount!

Paperless and print at home tickets have become more popular in the past 5 years as organisers are looking to cut costs, utilise technological advancements and improve the overall customer experience. But should these features cost the customer?

Consumer watchdog ‘Which?’ has found that leading ticket agency Ticketmaster is charging gig-goers £2.50 on average for their Ticketfast service which enables users to print off concert and event tickets at home.

‘We believe companies shouldn’t charge extra to print off tickets and should include costs in the headline price,’ the consumer group said.

The general consensus is that if you are being given the option to use your own resources i.e. your printer, to obtain your ticket you should not have to pay for it.

However, Ticketmaster argued there was a ‘lack of understanding’ over agency charges and said the fee covered staff and technology costs at venues to read and validate tickets.

A spokesman said: ‘Without these systems in place, there is a risk that multiple copies of the same ticket could gain access to the event. Our clients do not usually pay Ticketmaster separately for supplying this technology and service.’

What are your views? Should we be charged for print at home options? Have you come across other companies that charge for these services?